Speeding offences 1090/2024

FOI Reference: 1090/2024 

Request:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request data on speeding offences within your authority area.

Specifically, I am requesting the following information:

- The total number of speeding offences (exceeding speed limit while driving) recorded in each local authority/council area within your jurisdiction, in the time period stated below

- Data presented on a monthly basis for the period from: 1st January 2022 to 30th October 2024.

Clarification:

Clarification was sought from the applicant and they confirmed that they wished to know:

1) the number of people who were stopped by an officer and then found guilty at court for speeding

2) The number of drivers stopped by an officer and issued with a Conditional Offer

Response:

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:   (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.

Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit

Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”

The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 302.20 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244

The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of question 2 of your clarified request is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain this information for the time frame covering Jan 22 – Apr 23 would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and reviewing all Single Justice Procedure (SJP) notices issued for excess speed to identify if an individual was found guilty at court.

In addition to this, from May 23 new recording systems were introduced, however, these systems do not hold the information requested in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain this information for the time frame covering May 23 – Oct 24 would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and reviewing all Traffic Office Reports (TOR) issued to identify if the offence relates to excess speed and then to identify if an individual was found guilty at court.

It has been established that there are a total of 4533 SJP/TOR that cover the period of your request.  It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 4 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single SJP/TOR in respect of question 2 of your clarified request (as outlined above).  The process outlined results in the below time estimate.

Jan 22 – Apr 23 = 341 SJP notices at a minimum of 4 minutes per record = 22.73 hours

May 23 – Oct 24 = 4192 TOR at a minimum of 4 minutes per record = 279.47 hours

Time estimate to complete task and request = 302.20 hours

In accordance therefore with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the Whole of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.

Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided some information relative to question 1 of your clarified request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.

Please note: The information outlined below relates only to instances in which an individual was stopped by a Dyfed Powys police officer for exceeding a speed limit and subsequently issued with a conditional offer for excess speed.  The information does not include instances in which an individual has been dealt with via a speed awareness course, Single Justice Procedure, a caution or no further action (NFA) for exceeding a speed limit.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 27/11/24)